Massage apparatus



No. 770,708. PATENTED SEPT. 20, 1904 G. ADAMS-RANDALL.

MASSAGE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 9. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

Mai-Mamas,

way

NITED STATES Patented September 20, 1904.

PATENT OFricE.

CHARLES ADAMS-RANDALL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO RANDALL AND CAREY VIBRAL-MASSAGE MACHINE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MASSAGE APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,708, dated September 20, 1904.

Application filed January 9, 1904. Serial N0- 188,370. (N0 modeL) To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES ADAMs-RAN- DALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Vibratory Massage Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in vibratory massage apparatus; and has for its object to provide a simple portable massage device actuated by electromechanical mechanism and adapted to be held and guided in the hand and applied to any desired portion of the human body, the electromechanical mechanism operating to impart rapid oscillatory vibrations to a massage pad, cup, or contactpiece that is adapted to be applied to the cuticle or muscles of the patient operated upon, in contradistinction to rapidly-intermittent pulsatory vibrations such as are produced by the apparatus shown and described in an application for patent filed by me concurrently herewith.

To these ends my invention consists in the features and in the construction, combination,

and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims following the description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, wherein Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, partially in section, of my improved massage apparatus. Fig. 2 is a partial edge view thereof. Figs. 3, 3 and 3 are detail views showing modified means for flexibly connecting the contact-piece or pad tothe actuating mechanism. Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional elevations viewed from two different directions, illustrating a modified construction of the apparatus. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a guide-plate or presser-foot, and Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view of a modified form of contactpiece or cup.

In the apparatus forming the subject-matter of the present application for patent the excitation produced at the surface of the body and therefrom transmitted throughout the entire system is in the nature of a violent shaking or the contraction and relaxation of the skin and muscles of the body upon which the contact-piece or pad bears when in use. Although the contact-piece is made to bear with more or less force upon the body at the point to be treated, it does not move over the same frictionallysuch, for example, as when moving the hand to and fro upon the surface of the body with a rubbing action; but owing to the flexible or pliable connection between the holder and the contact-piece, cup, or pad,

hereinafter described, the contact-piece acts more to grasp or cling to the surface being treated and to violently oscillate or vibrate it to and fro, said action being imparted by a rapidly-moving oscillator, hereinafter fully described.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings the numeral 1 indicates, in a general manner, a small portable electric motor that may be carried in the hand and comprising a rotary armature 2 and field 3, of ordinary and well-known construction. The motor is adapted to be connected by two wires in the usual manner with any suitable source of electricity. On the armature-shaft 4 of the motor is fixed an eccentric 5, about which is loosely fitted a metallic eccentric-strap 6, provided with a laterally-projecting arm 7. To the end of the arm 7 is pivotally connected a connecting rod or link 8, and said connecting-rod is pivoted near its lower end orswivelecl on a shouldered screw 9, screwed in a stud 10, fixed in any suitable manner to a cross-bar 11, mounted on the frame of the motor. Instead of screwing said screw into the stud .10 it may be screwed into the cross-bar 11, and in place of the stud 10 a collar or sleeve 10 may be pro-- vided, through which the screw loosely passes and is screwed at its end into the cross-piece 11, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, or

for the screw 9 a rock-shaft may be substituted and secured to the lever or connectingrod 8 and fulcrumed in a suitable bearing on the cross-bar 11. As shown, the connectingrod or lever 8 extends at its lower end below the fulcrum 9 and has riveted or otherwise suitably rigidly connected thereto, as at 12, a downwardly-projecting rod 13. The contactpieces 14 or 15 may be flexibly connected to the lower end of the rod 12 in several diflerent manners-for example, as shown in Fig. 1, the pad or contact-piece is shown as being detachably fitted in the lower end of apiece of flexible rubber tubing 16, the upper end of said tubing being fitted over the lower end of the rod 12, or in place of the rubber tubing 16 the pad or contact-piece may be fitted to the lower end of a flat spring 17, which is rigidly fixed at its upper end to the lower end of the connecting-rod or lever 8 or a resilient piece of wiresuch, for example, as a piece of stiff piano-wire 18may be employed in place of the spring 17 as shown in Fig. 3, or a section of coil-spring 19 may be employed for the purpose, as shown in Fig. 3 The contact-pieces or pads 14 15 may be made of any desirable shape and suitable material, and are preferably provided on their lower sides with teeth or serrations. By means of the connections between the contact-pieces or pads and the rod 13 for connecting the rod 8 a certain degree of flexibility or pliability is provided between the pad or contact-piece and the oscillating part to which it is connected.

It will be evident from the foregoing that as the armature-shaft rotates the eccentric 5 will rotate therewith, and as it rotates in the strap or collar 6 it will impart an oscillating movement to the arm 7, and the latter will cause the connecting-rod or lever 8 to oscillate about its fulcrum 9. The said connecting-rod or lever will in turn impart to the flexible connection and the contact-piece or pad rapid frictional oscillatory vibrations, and owing to the elastic or pliable connections between the oscillator and the pad or contactpiece the latter acts in a manner to seemingly grasp or cling to the surface of the body being treated.

In Figs. 1 and 5 I have illustrated a modified form of the apparatus. In the apparatus constructed as shown in said figures of drawings a rod 20 is rigidly fixed at its upper end in one side of a strap or collar 21, which surrounds the eccentric 5 on the armature-shaft 4, and the lower end of said rod is loosely fitted in the upper hollow end 22 of a lever 23, that is pivoted intermediate its ends on the screw 9, before referred to. The rod 20 is adapted to freely move up and down in the upper end of the lever 23. As the eccentric is revolved, it imparts to the lower end of the lever 23, through the medium of the rod 20, an oscillatory movement. In practice the contact-pieces or pads will be flexibly and detachably connected to the lower end of the lever 23in the manner heretofore described in connection with the apparatus shown in Figs.

. attaching the pads or contact-pieces to the oscillator can be provided; but such connections must possess such a degree of firmness or stiffness as to impart to the contact-pieces or pads the rapid oscillations of the oscillatory rod actuated by the eccentric; but they must not be of such a firmness or stiffness as to have too great a tendency to prevent the motor from rotating. That too much pressure may not be put upon the oscillating rod and the motor and their movements thereby injuriously effected I, provide a presser-foot or guide-plate 24. (Shown most clearly in Figs. 4 and 6 of the drawings.) The presserfoot may be attached to the frame of the apparatus in any suitable manneras, for example, by means of a plate or arm 25 screwed to the frame of the apparatus and provided with a pendent metallic tube 26, an upright 27 being attached to one edge of the plate and fitting in the tube 26 with suflicient friction to hold the presser-foot in any position to which it may be vertically adjusted by raising or lowering the upright 27in the tube 26. The presser-foot is provided with a substantially rectangular aperture 28, through which the contact-piece or pad 14 is arranged to project, the distance which it may project through the presser-foot being regulated by raising 0r lowering the presser-foot. A pin 29 is fixed in the upright 27 and projects through a vertical slot 30, formed in one side of the tube 26, and serves as a guide to hold the'pre'sser-foot in proper position relatively to the contactpiece or pad. The foot or plate serves to ad just the position of the contact-piece or pad relatively to the body at the point to which vibration is to be applied, preventing the pad 7 quired, in most instances, to move and guide the apparatus over the parts to be massaged. A proper current to drive the motor may be obtained from a battery or any other suitable source of electric energy which may be reguoper'ator, whereby the operator is merely re- IIO lated in any of the well-known ways, the force v or power of the motor being determinate upon .the size and the amount of current energy several parts-that is to say, the rod 13, or the connecting-rod 8, or the pivoted lever 23I apply the generic term oscillator, and by such term I mean to include either one of the several parts mentioned.

In Fig. 7 of the drawings I have shown a modified construction of a massage contactpiece or cup that may be readily attached and removed from the oscillator for interchanging the contact-pieces or cups and for disinfecting or cleaning them or for other purposes. Referring to said figure, the numeral 31 indicates a metallic thimble, provided with a plurality of spring-fingers 32, and on the lower end of said thimble is a me tallic head 33 of greater diameter than the thimble 31. The numeral 34 indicates a collar provided with an inwardly-projecting annular flange 35, which encircles the thimble 31, and is prevented from becoming detached from said thimble by the shoulder formed by the upper portion of the cap 33. Fitted between the cap 33 and the collar 3a is a tube or cup comprising a cylindrical or tubular piece 36, of rubber, felt, or other soft and yielding material. The cup or contact-piece 36 is secured to the cap and collar by means of screws 37, which pass through the collar and cup and into the cap 33. Instead of employing screws for attaching the cup to the cap and collar, any other means suitable for the purpose may be employedfor example, the upper end of the cup 36 may be provided with spring-fingers similar to the fingers 32 and arranged to pass over the cap 33 to detachably hold the cup in place. The springfingers 32 are arranged to embrace and clamp the lower part of the rod 23, (shown in Figs.

4 and 5,) so as to detachably connect the cup to said rod, or they may. be caused to engage the lower end of the rod 13. (Shown in Fig. l of the drawings.)

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a vibratory massage apparatus,an electric motor, an eccentric fixed on the armatureshaft of the motor in combination with a contact-piece or pad, and means for converting the rotary motion of the eccentric into an oscillatory movement of the contact-piece or pad, substantially as described.

2. In a vibratory massage apparatus, an electric motor, an eccentric fixed on the armatureshaft of the motor, an oscillator, means for imparting an oscillating movement to the oscillator from said eccentric, a contact-piece or pad, and a flexible connection between said contact-piece or pad and the oscillator, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a vibratory massage apparatus, a portable electric motor, an oscillator, means for imparting an oscillatory movement to the oscillator from the electric motor, a contact-piece or pad, and. a flexible connection between said contact-piece or pad and the oscillator, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. In a vibratory massage apparatus,an electric motor, an eccentric fixed on the armatureshaft of the motor, an oscillator, means imparting oscillatory movement to the oscillator from the motor, a contact-piece or pad, a flexible connection connecting said contact-piece or pad to the free end of the oscillator, and an apertured presser-foot connected to the frame of the motor through which said contact-piece or pad is arranged to vibrate, substantially as described.

5. In a vibratory massage apparatus, an electric motor, an eccentric fixed on the armatureshaft of the motor, an oscillator, means imparting oscillatory movement to the oscillator from the motor, a contact-piece or pad, a flexible connection connecting said contact-piece or pad to the free end of the oscillator, an apertured presser-foot connected to the frame of the motor through which said contact-piece or pad is arranged to vibrate, and means for adjusting the presser-foot relatively to said contact-piece or pad to cause the latter to project to a greater or less extent through said presser-foot, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

6. In a vibratory massage apparatus, the combination of an electric motor and its armature-shaft, an eccentric fixed on said shaft,

a collar fitted upon said shaft, a pivoted lever loosely connected with said collar whereby the rotation of the eccentric imparts an oscillatory movement to the pivoted lever, a contact-piece or pad, and a flexible connection connecting said contact-piece or pad with the free end of said pivoted lever, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

7. In a vibratory massage apparatus, the combination with an electric motor and its armature-shaft, of an eccentric fixed on said shaft, a collar surrounding the eccentric, a pivoted lever loosely connected with said collar Whereby the eccentric operates to impart an oscillatory movement to said pivoted lever, a contact-piece or pad, and a flexible connection for flexibly connecting said contact-piece or pad with said pivoted lever, the contact-piece or pad being detachably connected to said flexible connection, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

8. In a vibratory massage apparatus, the combination of an electric motor and its armature-shaft, an eccentric secured to said shaft, a collar fitted upon said eccentric, a pivoted lever loosely connected to said collar whereby the eccentric imparts an oscillatory movement to said pivoted lever, a contact-piece or pad, a flexible connection attaching said contactpiece or pad with the free end of the pivoted lever, and a presser-foot surrounding the contact-piece or pad and detachably secured to the motor, as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES ADAMS-RANDALL.

Witnesses:

v H. W. MOUREY,

H. J. HALL. 

